About

Graduate Student Life

Housing

Soka University of America offers single graduate students the opportunity to live on-campus in close proximity to academic resources and convenient access to Graduate Student Services. The Office of Residential Life has designated a limited number of graduate student suites in the undergraduate residence halls. We are unable to accommodate families.

Residential Living Features

Furnished suites, including private bathroom and detached bedrooms

Access to the community kitchen pantry and public living rooms

Local telephone service and high-speed Internet (Ethernet and wireless)

Live-on Residential Life staff to provide 24 hour support

FREE laundry

The housing contract is for the 2014-2015 academic year. Contracts begin on July 30, 2014 and end on May 29, 2015. The Graduate Housing Application will be available online at https://housing.soka.edu/.

Graduate students are not required to live on campus. Other housing is available in the community; however, the University is not responsible for providing housing outside the campus. Soka University does not have on-campus accommodations for married students or students with families.

Library

The students enrolled in the MA in Educational Leadership and Societal Change program are expected to utilize the library for extensive research. The staff members of the Ikeda Library support students and faculty by providing comprehensive scholarly information and attentive services.

When graduate students arrive at SUA, their extent of experience with academic libraries and literature research may vary. Some have taken an extensive break from academia since obtaining their degree from an institution of higher education. The world of library and information science has gone through a transformation in recent years. Whether or not a graduate student’s confidence level is high or low, the student is expected to acquire and refine his or her information literacy skills through active participation in tasks and discussions in the library’s information literacy program.

Information Technology

SUA's IT department provides a fully-staffed Helpdesk service Monday through Friday 8:00am–5:00pm when school is in session. These Helpdesk services include application support, telecommunication support and hardware repairs. The IT Helpdesk also provides loaner equipment, which includes laptops, projectors, digital video cameras and voice recorders.

The office staff for the Graduate School is available to assist students and faculty 12 months a year, Monday through Friday 9:00am–5:00pm.

Financial Aid Services

Since graduate students in the new master’s program will all be considered full-time students, they will have access to the services available through the University’s Financial Aid Office. Both international and domestic students will have access to institutional and/or federal financial aid programs for which the students are eligible (e.g., institutional scholarships, institutional and federal loans). SUA is currently eligible to receive Title IV funding from the US Federal Government and will continue to use fair and equitable financial aid policies to determine continued eligibility for its graduate students.

Because the cost of higher education represents a significant investment for most students, full-time staff will be available to assist students in determining early estimates of cost and aid eligibility. Staff will be able to provide guidance on financial aid eligibility before, during, and after enrollment in order to ensure students are well informed of the terms and conditions of the various types of aid they wish to consider or accept. The University remains committed to investing its resources to insure the success of its students through both monetary and ethical means.

Career Services

Graduate students in the new program will have full access to the services available through the University’s Office of Career Services. Additionally, the core faculty in the program will provide expertise directly from their fields, maintaining productive connections within their fields and other communities. The visiting scholars are also expected to provide expertise directly from their fields. This connection among the faculty and the local and international network will serve to link those students in need of career services with a variety of employment contacts in the field of education and other related fields.